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Johnson attended Hawkinsville High School, where he was a three-sport athlete in football, basketball and track. He played defensive end for the Hawkinsville Red Devils football team. As a junior, he earned Class A All-State honorable mention and All-Area honors. As a senior, he recorded 16 sacks and 30 pressures while leading his team to the Class A State Championship, where he returned an interception 83 yards for a touchdown. He participated in the GACA North-South All-Star game.[1]

In addition to football, he also played basketball and ran track. He played as a forward on the basketball team. In track & field, he competed as a member of the Hawkinsville relay squads, recording personal-best times of 43.27 seconds in the 4x100 and 3:42.47 minutes in the 4x400.[2] He also ran a 4.6-second 40-yard dash.

Johnson was considered by some NFL scouts to be a 1st or 2nd round pick and rated as high as the 3rd best defensive end in draft by some scouting services.[3] Charles went later than expected to the Carolina Panthers in the 3rd round with the 83rd overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft. This was considered to be a great value pick by many experts.[5][6]

During Johnson's rookie year (2007), he appeared sparingly due to playing behind established veterans like Julius Peppers and Mike Rucker.

He appeared in all 16 games of the 2008 season. With Rucker retired, and a year of experience behind him Johnson showed great strides during the year totaling 25 tackles, 6 quarterback sacks, and forcing 1 fumble.

2010 was his first year as a starter with the departure of longtime starter Julius Peppers and was somewhat of a breakout year for Charles Johnson. Through 16 games he recorded 11.5 sacks (tied for 8th in the NFL) with 62 total tackles, and 1 forced fumble.[7] After the lockout was lifted, Charles Johnson was resigned to a six-year $72M ($32M guaranteed) contract. According to ESPN the Magazine, he was the highest paid player in the NFL during the 2011 season with a total salary of $34M.[8]